(USA Today) – While high blood pressure is considered the most important risk factor for strokes, new findings target even slightly high blood pressure as a danger.
People whose blood pressure was above normal — known as pre-hypertension — were 55% more likely to have a stroke compared to people with normal blood pressure, according to an analysis of 518,520 adults involved in 12 studies on blood pressure and stroke occurrence. The report was published Wednesday online in Neurology. One in three adults in the USA has pre-hypertension.
The authors suggest treatments more aggressive than altering lifestyle might be necessary if future studies support the findings. Current treatments for pre-hypertension, defined by a systolic blood pressure (when the heart is pumping) between 120-139 and diastolic blood pressure (when the heart is at rest) between 80-89, include lowering it by losing weight, exercising, reducing salt intake and stopping smoking. Physicians might recommend drug therapy for patients with with pre-hypertension plus other diseases, including prediabetes and diabetes.
The findings are leading to discussions about starting earlier drug interventions to lower blood pressure, according to a doctor not associated with the study. Most often, medicine for lowering blood pressure isn’t recommended until blood pressure is 140/50 or higher .
“It could be similar to what happened with cholesterol numbers,” says Seemant Chaturvedi , director of the stroke program at Wayne State University and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “Everyone knows those have been racheted down.”
Pre-hypertension was classified in 2003 by a team of medical experts, flagging it as a precursor to hypertension but not a risk factor for stroke and calling for more studies on the condition. The studies reported on were all completed after 2003.
(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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“The findings are leading to discussions about starting earlier drug interventions to lower blood pressure, according to a doctor not associated with the study.”
Sure they are. More sales for Big Pharma. Why not put everyone on BP meds? Why wait? Let’s do it as a preventative. $$$$$
Exactly Kevin.. You took the words right out of my mouth.
I think we should start BP meds at birth that way any rise in BP during their lifetime would be taken care of 😉
You guys are all wrong….We need to start taking it in the womb!..lol
I don’t know what to make of these figures. All I would want to know is how many subjects out of the 518,520 died or became disabled due to a stroke, what their other additional risk factors were, how old they were, and how this could be related to me as a patient with or without additional risk factors. Many doctors these days just treat numbers and not patients.
One of the doctor’s I’ve seen believes that everybody over 60 should be on blood pressure medication, regardless of their actual blood pressure. How do I know that he does not inflate the numbers to ensure that his patients can be told they have high blood pressure, if he thinks like that?
You get mw confused with the New Everyday Studies?Research.
I hope to buy a Resperate soon.
Thanks for all the good advises.